That day, after classes and dinner, Axel sat in the empty classroom which had turned into his makeshift bedroom by now. Except, of course, for the fact that there was no bed here.
But you won't find Axel complaining. This place was dry, warm, relatively clean, and wasn't infested with bugs and rodents —Which is already quite nice for someone who's experienced the streetlife of London.
He looked at the information about the new Skill he had acquired.
[Arcane Acrobatics.
A thief must have nimble and dexterous movements. Helps you increase your balance, maneuverability, and nimbleness and adds grace and finesse to your movements.
Current progress: 5% (Original 20%)]
In the information, there were quite a lot of physical exercises along with the basics of freerunning and parkour.
And even though it was such a pity that he couldn't do most of them at the moment, but he was still quite excited to give them all a try when he eventually gets healed.
And of course, there was one more thing again: Diet.
*Sigh*
Axel felt his heart bleed at the thought of buying these things. Though he did notice that most of the ingredients were common in the three skills.
Looking at the black leather wallet sent by Andromeda, he sighed.
'System, is the diet really that important? Can you explain how those things can help?' He asked.
[Affirmative. The special balanced diet, consisting of various magical ingredients and supplements, is a very vital part of the training. They will help you improve your body in various ways.
Along with providing the necessary nutrition required to perform these taxing exercises, it'll condition your body to be stronger and flexible enough to perform the higher-level techniques that you're going to unlock.
Lastly, it'll gradually increase the magical conductivity of your body, thus allowing you easier access to magic so that you can use it in the skills.]
Axel sighed. It seems that he has no choice but to spend his money.
He took out the Magi Mirror from the enchanted wallet and gave it a look. He had decided to only use the Blacks' things when he had a real need for them.
It seems like he really has the need to get used to operating it to keep up with the times.
'Looks too flashy,' he thought, flipping it in his hands.
Up to now, he has seen this thing in various sizes and colors. The one in his hands was a Black Slick Mirror with a streamlined design that screamed branded and expensive. It had a logo of a half-eaten strawberry behind it.
'System, how do I use it?'
He asked the system for instructions on how to use it. He hadn't even used a Muggle telephone upto now, let alone this.
According to what the system has said, these things have been inspired from muggle ideas. Anything that the muggles can do, there's a way to replicate and further improve it using magic.
'System, if the Wizards can do so much with magic, why are most of their inventions based on what muggles have already achieved without magic?' Asked Axel. He thought that wizards should have left muggles in dust by now.
[Muggles are a magical existence on their own, Axel. Despite their lack of magic, they are gifted with an incredible amount of creativity. Muggles are an important reason why the Magical Civilization is as developed as it is now. A magical world without muggles would be quite backward in many terms.]
'Oh…my bad.' Axel nodded in understanding, admitting that he was in the wrong here. After just a few days of living as a wizard, he was already starting to think muggles were inferior. He could see how Purebloods turned the way they are.
'Just asking, does the Nether Dimension have muggles?' He asked.
[Further information on the Nether dimension is still locked. Quickly increase your approval rate.]
'Damn,' Axel decided not to think too much about it and focus and what was in front of him. He had no business pondering over all that while being weak as fuck.
He followed the system's instructions to contact the BigOwl.
He had to first connect to the Magi-hive. Then he had to search BigOwl's information and just either call them or send the list. They'll deliver as soon as possible at the mentioned address.
Axel began typing the list of ingredients he had to consume but his mouth fell open when he read the price.
"Damn it, is this robbery?!" He muttered in dismay. It was going to take a good chunk out of what he had stolen from the man.
[Things in the list like Dragon meat jerky, Dragon liver, Gurdyroot, Root of arnica, Silverweed, Star grass, Galanthus Nivalis, etc. aren't supposed to be cheap, Axel. But it'll give your body a solid foundation along with many benefits. It'll also help in making your injuries less severe.]
"Sigh...I'm going to be poor again,"
After contemplating for a while, Axel decided to buy the ingredients. He'll have to find a way to get more money very soon.
After he was done, he went back to his training while still contemplating how to earn money.
***
__Time Skip__
HALLOWEEN
Two Months had passed since the start of the new term and Hogwarts had settled into its usual schedule, except for some crazy things from time to time.
This year, there were a few noteworthy students at Hogwarts.
First of all, there was the Girl Who Lived who had surprisingly managed to get into the Gryffindor House Quidditch team in her first year.
And then there was the Mafia Prodigy, who's attending her third year at Hogwarts. She is usually staying locked up in her room doing some kind of Magical experiment or she'll sometimes visit the Dueling Arena where there are always students dueling and a healthy amount of audience watching. She had an undefeated record in the Arena.
Aside from these two, there were several others like Alaric Malcolm: the head boy, the Weasley Twins, who are very famous for their prank videos, and some other students with high Status from other magical communities.
But interestingly enough, there was one student who had become unintentionally notable for being very… un-notable.
Yes, Axel hunt had initially become famous after his video of a duel that had gone viral which showed his extreme dodging skills, giving the illusion that he could see the future. But when the curious students had tried to find out more about him, they were surprised to find… nothing!
They couldn't find any information on him. And except for his classes, he is rarely seen outside. The only people he's ever been seen associating with are Rose Potter and her friends.
Another reason for his fame was that the way he handled the duel was apparently too cool and badass. And many young ladies found his bad-boy attitude attractive.
And right now, the person in question, being quite unaware and uncaring of all this, was on his way to attending his Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.
[[Progress in 'Blend': 26%->39.9%]
[Progress in 'Presence Reduction': 22%->35.4%]
[Progress in 'Arcane Acrobatics: 5%->14%]
[Progress in Pain Tolerance: 57%->60%]
In the past two months, Axel had definitely made good progress in his skills considering the fact that the rate of improvement slows down the further you improve. He had even unlocked some new skills as well and unlocked some further information about on the existing ones.
Though, the progress he was really happy about was with his body and wand.
At first, he had only ordered the diet supplements in small amounts since he couldn't bring himself to fully trust in the system.
Only after getting checked up at the hospital wing before and after consuming the diet and confirming that there were no side effects did he fully commit to spending his money.
And after two months of various exercises, practicing various techniques, and completely emptying his pockets, the results were now starting to show.
His originally skinny body now looked in a much better shape. But, the real improvement was inner improvement. The training of the Arcane Thief Class wasn't focused on gaining a bulky or muscular physique. It was focused on getting him the fastest, most flexible body with more inner strength than superficial bulk.
Now, even if his movements weren't as fast as before he was injured, he was still much better than his previous completely crippled self and his technique was better than ever before.
Though, there still wasn't much noticeable improvement in his hands' condition.
As for his other improvement, it was with his wand.
After two months of caring and coaxing this girlish wand, his bond was now strong enough that his magic was almost as powerful as an average first year. This was already quite an improvement for Axel whose Lumos used to be the weakest in the class and always fluctuating.
His Occlumency was also going swimmingly well, but even if he's a genius, he can't be expected to achieve in months what others have spent years, decades, and even their lives mastering.But he was close.
He walked into the DADA class, ignoring anyone who was looking at him, and went straight to the last seat.
Since DADA was with Slytherins, Daphne was, as always, sitting with him in the last seat.
"So, the phantom boy has once again decided to grace us with his presence, huh?" She muttered as she looked up from the book she was reading.
Axel rolled his eyes in exasperation as he took his seat beside her.
"Is that what they've been calling me now? I have told you already that I am usually there. It's just that people are too blind to notice me," said Axel truthfully.
With his current skills, none of the students can see him as long as he doesn't want them to. Though he does purposefully show himself in the Slytherin dorms in front of some small groups of students now and then, so that they know that he's staying in the dorms.
Daphne rolled her eyes at him as well.
"Yeah, I totally believe you," it might not look like it, but she was also being serious. She'd sometimes forget he was sitting right beside her until she sees him again.
In the past two months, Axel and Daphne had gotten used to sitting together in their common classes. Though since Daphne had many other friends as well, she'd sometimes sit with them.
Even after two months, Axel had still refused to acknowledge her as a friend.
"We're not friends. We're just acquaintances who are on friendly terms," he'd say.
Axel was quite clear that people's minds were quite complicated and can change anytime. This girl calls the other girls from Ravenclaw her friends but she's always bitching about them to him behind their backs.
Is this friendship? Then no thanks, he doesn't need it.
Sitting there, Daphne went back to read her book while Axel took out his wand to practice.
*Thrum*
"Yeah, good morning," he murmured to the wand. By now, he was quite clear on the fact that what he was doing wasn't crazy at all. This thing was almost alive. Even that creepy old man at the wand shop had said that wands have a mind of their own.
Daphne gave him a peculiar look from the side. At first, she had thought he had something wrong with his head but she had seen his wand acting like a person in person. So now, all she could think was it might be nice to have a wand like that too.
'Treats it better than he treats me,' she thought with some resentment. She had already given up trying to figure him out by now. She couldn't understand a thing.
She just sits with him because she can just observe him if she's bored. Talking to him is interesting, he's ALWAYS training, and it's quite a novel experience seeing him making progress with each day while knowing that a certified master healer had said he'd be unable to do magic.
"You know, seeing you try so hard every day makes me feel like a lazy piece of shit," she said casually.
Yep, this was another effect of his company. She had become fluent in using bad language. This was just her small way of showing a middle finger to her dear father who might be observing from hell. To hell with his perfect pureblood lady bullshit.
Hearing her words, Axel turned to look at her with a bored expression.
"Ah...okay. But I fail to see how this is any of my concern."
BURN
With her cheeks heating up in embarrassment, Daphne silently wrote down this line as well among the many others.
This polite way of cursing was also something she wished to learn.
Soon Umbridge had arrived, making her presence known with her annoying "hem* *hem*
Once again, there was nothing interesting in her class. She only let the students read the chapters in her class and ask her if they have any doubts.
'This lazy toad.'
Axel somewhat hated her, but he still made sure to steer clear of her. His instincts always warned him against her.
Especially considering how some of the students who had protested had gotten detentions. Axel never saw them dare to even let out a peep from the next class.
He practiced covertly with his presence hidden while Daphne read her book.
"Those who have attended the extra classes. Congratulations on your improvement. And those with invitations who haven't yet attended, please do reconsider after looking at the improvement of those who have attended."
Umbridge even called for a demonstration, with a dummy ready.
"Mr. Malfoy, would you kindly show how much you've improved in the last two months?
Malfoy, who came out looking quite pompous, nodded with a smirk. He cast a look at Axel before looking back at the dummy.
"Expulso!"
*BAM*
The Dummy hit got thrown back with such force that it hit the wall behind.
The whole class was astonished after seeing this.
"I think I'll reconsider going after this. If even that idiot can improve, then it might be worth the restrictions," said Daphne in shock.
Daphne was the only one among Rose's group who had gotten the invitation. Only the dark Pureblood families had gotten one.
Axel shook her head immediately, his expression quite severe.
"Don't go. It's not worth it," he said, his eyes actually looking at the system notification on the system interface in front of him that was blinking red.
[Dark Magic detected.]
'What is this woman doing?!'
****
A.N.: Check out the title of Chapter 25. It's an interesting spoiler. It's Halloween and you know what that means in the Potterverse.
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